Comedians who died in 2014

February 23, 2015 5:18 PM

The Comic's Comic site provides a list of comedians who died in 2014, along with some photos and video links. Some you likely know, like Robin Williams and Joan Rivers. Some perhaps not, like the great John Pinette. And some goddamn tragedies, like Jan Hooks.
posted by anothermug (21 comments total)

Aw really, John Pinette? Fuck. I guess it was inevitable, but he was great.

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posted by nevercalm at 5:20 PM on February 23, 2015 [5 favorites]

Aw jeez, that pic of Robin and Joan got me weepy.
posted by jonmc at 5:21 PM on February 23, 2015

God, I keep forgetting Robin Williams is dead.

I hadn't heard of Sheldon Patinkin until this post. Damn, he looks so much like his cousin, Mandy.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:24 PM on February 23, 2015

This house will become a shrine! And Punks and Skins and Rastas will gather 'round, and hold their hands in sorrow for their fallen leader! But all the grown-ups will say, "Why are the kids crying?" And the kids will say, "Haven't you heard? Rick is dead! The people's poet is dead!"

-RIP Rik Mayall.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:28 PM on February 23, 2015 [18 favorites]

Robin Williams still lives in my heart.
posted by SPrintF at 5:31 PM on February 23, 2015 [2 favorites]

The world is a little sadder every time a funny person dies.
posted by xingcat at 5:37 PM on February 23, 2015

I'm sorry, Jan Hooks was just as much a tragedy as Robin Williams. Different axis, same value.
posted by eriko at 5:38 PM on February 23, 2015 [3 favorites]

Lots of mournables in that list, but I'll speak up for Otto Peterson. Otto was terrible at not moving his mouth during ventriloquism -- something he was the first to admit -- but he was great at putting life into George. Scatological, vicious, perverted life, but it still counts. No one in the visible audience was ever safe.
posted by delfin at 5:46 PM on February 23, 2015 [2 favorites]

It amazes me that Sid Caesar was only 13 years older than David Brenner. I would have said they were 30 years apart.
posted by Etrigan at 5:53 PM on February 23, 2015 [6 favorites]

Do comedians die much younger than average, or have most comedians who make it to their 80s and 90s faded from the limelight to the point that they aren't remembered on such lists. The average life expectancy of this group is well below average ...
posted by Crotalus at 5:54 PM on February 23, 2015

We talked about John Pinette at work today, actually.
posted by Ruki at 5:58 PM on February 23, 2015

The average life expectancy of this group is well below average ...

Robin Williams wasn't the first, nor will he be the last great comedian whose comedy comes from battling depression. Even a lot of the ones who didn't obviously die from it were probably suffering from it and its many direct health effects.

We still miss you, Mitch.
posted by Etrigan at 6:02 PM on February 23, 2015 [8 favorites]

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posted by duffell at 6:12 PM on February 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

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posted by clavdivs at 6:27 PM on February 23, 2015

WHAT! Charlie Hill?
Fuck me.

Not to undermine Williams and Rivers etc etc.... But goddamn, Charlie Hill?

Christ. Time to cap this suck ass day already. Goodnight.
posted by edgeways at 7:09 PM on February 23, 2015

A whole boatload of gut punches and sorrow in that list.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 7:26 PM on February 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Do comedians die much younger than average, or have most comedians who make it to their 80s and 90s faded from the limelight to the point that they aren't remembered on such lists

I'd say they tend to die young.
Unless they don't, and then they really don't.

George Burns: January 20, 1896 — March 9, 1996
Bob Hope: May 29, 1903 — July 27, 2003
Phyllis Diller: July 17, 1917 — August 20, 2012
Henny Youngman (heh): March 6, 1906 — February 24, 1998
Sid Caesar: September 8, 1922 — February 12, 2014
Jonathan Winters: November 11, 1925 — April 11, 2013
Shelly Berman: February 3, 1925 —
Don Rickles: May 8, 1926 —
Bob Newhart: September 5, 1929 —
posted by Atom Eyes at 7:51 PM on February 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

You see, uh, and I hate to point this out, but uh, Mr.-Mr. Newhart is going to ah, and according to plan, live forever, yup.
:|
posted by clavdivs at 10:37 PM on February 23, 2015 [11 favorites]

I think another reason the list skews young is that "comedian," as a profession in the limelight, is a relatively new thing, a mid-20th century phenomenon. (Building on older traditions, of course.)

So the oldest cohort still living is small not only for demographic reasons, but because there just weren't that many of them in the public eye to begin with.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:42 AM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

At the other end of the list are two comics I know as locals, who were taken well before their time. Life happens, but still, there was promise and potential.

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posted by ZeusHumms at 10:14 AM on February 24, 2015

Rik Mayall's death still guts me.
posted by dotgirl at 12:53 PM on February 24, 2015